Doujutsu
by mewling
Summary: OneShot: The sharingan doesn’t come without a price. Itachicentric. And if you’re desperate, KisaIta really desperate.


Series: Naruto  
Rating: T. To be safe.  
Warnings: Light spoilers for err… chapters…umm… well, if you don't know who Kisame or Itachi are, I guess. I didn't read this through even once.  
Summary: OneShot: The sharingan doesn't come without a price. Itachi-centric. And if you're desperate, KisaIta; really desperate. And I mean desperate. I hate Kisame.  
Author: Mewling  
Title: Doujutsu

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**Doujutsu  
**by mewling

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oOo

"How many fingers..?" says the person he knows is Kisame. Sharingan deactivated, Itachi squints before he can stop himself. He counts four.

"Four," he says.

He reactivates his sharingan, and keeps his face blank.

Five.

But he knew that.

oOo

Itachi drinks his tea with Kisame in silence. The shop is uninhabited but for them.

Over Kisame's shoulder, he watches a young boy carry what must be his younger brother on his back, passing the sweet store. The sharingan allows him to see the movements they make in the future; he sees the amiable laughter before hears it, knows the words before they're spoken. The pair leave his vision once every half a second for ten seconds.

He's reminded of something. He knows what, but he doesn't dwell on it. Itachi doesn't have time for pathetic things.

Itachi's been drinking out of an empty tea cup for a while now.

oOo

The medic's nervousness is tangible. He can smell the sweat. It's probably because Kisame is standing ominously behind him.

His slightly moist fingertips are cool on Itachi's eyelids. Itachi feels the medic's chakra as it explores his eyeballs and suppresses a shudder. Nausea grows, but it's probably just because of the contact.

"There's nothing I can do, I'm afraid," says the man, "Even if you were never to use the _doujutsu_ again, the damage is irreparable." Itachi's eyes, now open, search the shape of the medic for signs of deceit. He doesn't find any; it doesn't please him.

Kisame says something to the medic Itachi can't quite catch. The man's reply is plenty loud enough. "I can recommend a specialist. I really can't do anything."

"You _are_ a specialist." This time, Kisame's voice is clear.

A nervous laugh from the medic. "He lives in Iruhana village. I have his address…"

"I know who he is. _He_ recommended _you_," Kisame's scratchy voice replies. Itachi's wordly enough to realise that some people would consider that funny.

He reactivates the sharingan before leaving. Kisame follows a few seconds after; Itachi doesn't hear anything, but he knows if he cared enough to look back he's see a copse.

oOo

Itachi thinks he just might hate Kakashi.

The thought occurs to him one day, when he's lying semi-unconsciously somewhere. He was realising that the sharingan seems to be taking up more and more chakra everyday. The enormity of the situation hit him, although he didn't care to show it, and he remembered something Kakashi had said to him once.

He briefly entertains the idea of seeking him out and killing him before he passes out, and when he comes to he's forgotten about it.

A week later, he remembers, but takes it out on some people who he decides might hold information. The _genjutsu_ bores him more than it should; he's not doing this for fun. While a woman's body collapses from exhaustion before him, he wonders how his little side project somewhere with Orochimaru is going. Itachi thinks that it's all taking too long.

Later, when he's lost his interest, Itachi joins Kisame in a place Kisame didn't know he'd be yet. Kisame's not unduly surprised; he shouldn't be.

oOo

It's five in the afternoon when Itachi does his eye exercises. They're supposed to improve his vision, or at least keep it from worsening at higher rate. Itachi attempts to discern blurry things far away from unfocused things close up. His eyeballs feel oddly separate from the rest of his anatomy.

The scroll pinned to the wall is some inane tax report. Itachi tries to turn dark blurs into discernable characters. It's pointless, as it turns out. He wonders if the medic was lying. It seems as much.

He doesn't need to see, however, to know that Kisame is watching him. The fish-man does nothing to hide himself, particularly; Itachi speculates it's a compliment, that he acknowledges Itachi would find he's there regardless.

Kisame just watches. Itachi considers stopping. He doesn't need anyone's pity.

oOo

The sharingan makes the waves seem to hit the cliff ten times as often as they should. Standing above, looking down, Itachi doubts anything could happen that would possibly surprise him.

Kisame joins him, like Itachi knew he would, and hands him a scroll that Itachi catches the millisecond it leaves Kisame's hand. The fish man's no doubt used to this; Itachi doesn't think he even notices anymore. He probably would if he didn't, though, and in a moment of insecurity ups his chakra a little. Kisame doesn't see- he's looking at the waves below, surely seeing them at the real rate.

Itachi snaps the scroll open in front of him, upping the power to his sharingan automatically. Before he gets to the first word, Kisame says, "It's about the _jinchuuriki_ in the next town over. Just covering the basic stats."

He frowns, because for a second he thinks Kisame is mocking him. Itachi closes the scroll and slides it into his cloak –there's plenty of room- before returning to watch the waves like the other man.

"You know I killed my best friend," Itachi says. His voice is even enough for it to pass as a casual –albeit odd- comment. He knows Kisame knows better.

For a while there's a pause. Then Kisame says, with uncharacteristic deliberation, "I have no idea what you mean."

He's lying, of course. Even without the sharingan turned to Kisame's face, he knew what he was going to say.

He wasn't surprised, after all.

oOo

The moon his high in the sky. Across the ground in front of him lies the bound and unconscious body of the _jinchuuriki_. On the other side, stands Kisame.

Itachi deactivates his sharingan, and hold his hand before him, grey in the moonlight.It's hisown hand, so he knows it's five.

But he counts four.

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/END DOUJUTSU/

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A/N: I don't even know if Itachi _can_ deactivate his sharingan.

Doujutsu—eye jutsu  
Jinchuuriki—err…demon vessel.

Man, I suck at dialogue. I wrote this and discovered I couldn't remember a thing about Kisame. Damn, I hate writing stories with two people of the same sex. It's so hard with pronouns.

Since the last thing I wrote was smut, I had to write some sort of apology story, and this had been niggling at me for a while.

I'm in a weird mood, so I don't even know if it's good or not.

Please review.


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